Shrimp and Zucchini Pasta in Cream Sauce

Ingredients and pasta

1. The sauce needs a young zucchini, not the biggest one. Frankly, the zucchini and other vegetables in the sauce are secondary, but they make the sauce thicker. Don’t use an overripe zucchini, because the seeds will stand out in the dish.

2. Prepare the ingredients: shrimp tails, cream, zucchini and garlic. Basil, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan are optional and mostly for garnish.

   

3. While the sauce cooks, bring 2-2.5 l of water to a boil in a pot over high heat. Salt it at 7 g of salt per 1 l of water.

4. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook. The cooking time is on the package, and the manufacturer guarantees al dente in that time. You can also make the pasta yourself: fresh pasta cooks in 5-6 minutes. Store-bought pasta takes a little longer, but the dish turns out very well with it.

   

Shrimp

1. Thaw the “gray” shrimp, preferably not in advance but right before making the sauce. Put the frozen shrimp in a bowl and cover with cold water. In 8-10 minutes they will be fully thawed.

2. Peel the shrimp one at a time. The chitinous shell comes off easily with your fingers. If you like, you can leave the tail fin on.

3. Carefully cut along the back of the tail and remove the vein, which looks like a dark thread running the whole length.

   

Cream sauce

1. Peel 1-2 garlic cloves and crush them with a knife.

2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the garlic in it until lightly browned. The garlic’s job is to flavor the olive oil.

3. Then carefully remove the garlic from the oil and discard it. This trick is used in most sauces, for risotto and other dishes.

   

4. Wash and dry the zucchini. Cut off the ends and slice the zucchini into rounds about 1 cm thick, then cut the rounds into thick strips. Instead of regular zucchini you can use young courgettes with green or yellow skin, which are firmer than the zucchini we are used to.

5. Fry the sliced zucchini in the flavored olive oil over medium heat until soft and just starting to turn lightly golden.

   

6. Reduce the heat, pour the heavy cream over the fried zucchini and stir. When the sauce comes to a boil, lower the heat to the minimum so it only barely simmers. Simmer the zucchini in the cream for 2-3 minutes.

7. Salt the sauce to taste and add a little black pepper for aroma. I also really like adding coarsely ground dried hot pepper with its seeds. It won’t make the dish spicy, but it improves the aroma considerably.

   

8. Add the shrimp tails to the cream. Add 1 tsp of grated lemon zest (2 g) and about 1 tsp of very finely chopped dill, and stir.

9. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 2-3 minutes, until the gray color of the shrimp turns orange-red, the color we know from ready-cooked store-bought shrimp. Don’t cook longer. Seafood is very sensitive to heat, and if overcooked the meat turns tough and rubbery.

   

Serving

1. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and let the water run off.

2. Put the pasta into the sauce and toss lightly.

3. Plate the tagliatelle with shrimp in sauce. I always sprinkle pasta without tomato with a little finely grated Parmesan or grana padano. Garnish the dish with a sprig of basil and a halved cherry tomato.

4. Serve the pasta while it is hot.

   

   If you use already cooked shrimp, add them 1-2 minutes before the sauce is done so they don’t overcook. I saw a recipe somewhere that used coconut and plant-based cream. In my opinion, that is quite a good option.